Julia Schell scored a staggering six tries in the second half as second seeds Canada got their Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign off to a strong start with a 65-7 win against Fiji in York.
Schell began her try blitz shortly after the amateur Fijians had got on the scoreboard themselves, showing superb pace and power for her six scores in the space of 23 minutes.
Fiji could not deal with the full-back making runs from deep, as Schell became the second woman in World Cup history to finish a match with a six-try haul, after American Krista McFarren against Sweden in 1994.
However, the impressive achievement is not a record, as it has been beaten in the past, with New Zealander Portia Woodman scoring eight against Hong Kong in 2017.
Regardless, this was a highly satisfactory opening to the World Cup for Canada, a team who – if the tournament goes according to seedings – are lined up to face England in the final at Twickenham.
A fast start from Canada saw them score their first of 11 tries after six minutes through Sophie de Goede.
The 26-year-old flanker captained Canada to fourth place at the World Cup in 2022 but missed the 2024 Olympics with a serious knee injury.
The Saracens back row, regarded as one of the world’s best players for her barnstorming carries, will aim to make up for lost time in this tournament.
Gillian Boag, Caroline Crossley and Alysha Corrigan extended the lead in the first half, but one hiccup came as Taylor Perry made head-on-head contact in the build-up to a disallowed try. The Canadian fly-half was sin-binned but avoided a red card following a review.
Fiji responded in the second half with a superb try – a slick passing move ending in Kolora Lomani crossing over.
Of greater concern for Canada was starting wing Fancy Bermudez limping off shortly after the break with a leg injury.
But they showed their teeth through Schell’s six-score show, with Karen Paquin adding number 11 following a late line-out, as they began another attempt to finally land a first global title.
Canada are one of four nations to have played at every edition of the Women’s World Cup but have never won it – the closest they came was when they were losing finalists against England in 2014.